April 23 – National Picnic Day

nPostednon April 23, 2015

Inthink it’s pretty great that National Picnic Day is on a Thursday –nbecause for years (more than a decade!), my family ate picnics almostnevery Thursday! That was the day that our homeschool support groupngot together for park days, theme days, field trips, and evennparties. One or more cooler was almost always involved – andnsometimes we even had cookouts in the evening after having a picnicnlunch!

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nOfncourse, National Picnic Day isn’t on a Thursday every year – thendays is hooked to the date, April 23. It falls on weekend days, too –nprobably more likely picnic days for most people!

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nThenmost important two parts of a picnic are the people and the setting.nThe weather can be important, of course – how many times have wenheard about a picnic being spoiled by rain? The least important partnmay be the thing most people talk about so much – the food! I havendone many a picnic with a crusty fresh baguette and a hunk of cheesenand a single piece of ripe fruit. That simple fare can seem amazingnsitting at an overlook of a European castle, or basking on a sunnynbeach, or crouched down in a niche made from boulders, out of thenbreeze, near an alpine lake.

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nHowever,nsome people take their picnic food very seriously. Naturally, we wantnour food to be safe – so make sure that food is stored and carriednwith that in mind! Here is Food-dot-com’s page with links fornmayo-free potato salad, corn and zucchini salad, and rustic onion andncheese picnic pie!

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Bynthe way…

n“Picnic”nis a fairly cutesy word, given that it has a rhyme built in. It comes from the French word piquenique – but etymologists aren’t sure where that word came from! The first time piquenique appeared in print was in the late 1600s; the word was rarelynused in English before 1800.

nEating out of doors of course has been happening all through history!

nEven when it finally came into use innEngland, spelled “picnic” rather than with those French Qs andnsilent Us and Es, it meant what we now use the word by the wordn“pot-luck.” A picnic, back then, meant an informal meal to whichnevery guest contributed a dish. These casual meals could be eaten indoors or outdoors –nit was the “many cooks” aspectnthat was important.

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nNow,nof course, we can have potlucks at an outdoor picnic, but a picnicnbasket can be created by a single cook, too, and many times it is just two people doing the eating – it is the meal beingneaten outside somewhere that makes it a picnic.

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Unless you want to picnic inside!

nIf you are suffering from an overly-long winter of constant snow andnrain, then you may certainly picnic indoors. Spread a blanket on thenfloor, plop down a well-stocked picnic basket, and eat yournsandwiches and chips while sitting crosslegged with paper platesnbalanced precariously in your lap!

nAlsonon this date: